(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a connector including a stationary connector housing to be attached to an opening in a panel and a detachable connector housing which is provided with a waterproofing seal member and is adapted to be fitted to the stationary connector housing.
(2) Statement of the Prior Art
For convenience of explanation, a conventional connector provided with a waterproofing construction will be described below by referring to FIGS. 4 and 5.
FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of a conventional connector, illustrating a state of the connector attached to a panel having a relatively small thickness. FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of a conventional connector, illustrating a state of the connector attached to a panel having a relatively large thickness.
In the conventional connector shown in FIG. 4, the male connector housing 1 has a flange la on an upper end periphery of a hood 1b which is opened at an upper face. The flange 1a is attached to the rear periphery around an opening 2a in a panel 2 to secure the housing 1 to the panel 2. On the other hand, a female connector housing 3 is covered with a waterproofing cover 4 at its upper face and is provided around an upper periphery with a waterproofing rubber seal member 5.
In this case, the female connector housing 3 is coupled to the male connector housing 1 through the panel 2 by fastening a bolt 6 on a center front side of the panel 2 into a nut 7 on a center rear side of the panel 2. At this time, terminals (not shown) in the both connector housings 1 and 3 are interconnected and the seal member 5 closely contacts with a front periphery around the opening 2a in the panel 2 with the member 5 being compressed by a given amount, thereby preventing water on the outside from entering the housings.
However, the panel 2 on which the connector is mounted has various thicknesses. For example, there are not only a panel 2 shown in FIG. 4 which is relatively thin but also a panel 2 shown in FIG. 5 which is relatively thick. However, if the thickness of the panel 2 is changed, a distance between the flange la of the male connector housing 1 and the surface of the panel 2, that is, a lower end of the seal member 5 is changed in accordance with the thickness in the above conventional construction.
If a connector in which a dimension and a shape of the seal member 5 are set to be suitable for, e.g. a thin panel 2 shown in FIG. 4 is attached to a thick panel 2 shown in FIG. 5, a compression amount of the seal member 5 becomes great to cause a creep in the member. Also, it is impossible to couple the female connector housing 3 to the male connector housing 1 sufficiently and to obtain an effective contact area between the terminals. On the other hand, if a connector in which the dimension and shape of the seal member 5 are set to be suitable for a thick panel 2 is attached to a thin panel 2, it will be difficult to obtain a close contact of the seal member 5. This results in a poor waterproofing effect.